Italy’s worried about crypto

Plus: Consumer confidence is at pandemic lows

GM. We peeled back the layers so you don’t have to – today’s crypto market served diced, spiced, and slightly unhinged.

🏦 Bank of Italy raises concerns about crypto.

🍋 News drops: Australia’s fighting against inactive exchanges, the DOJ’s fighting against Celsius CEO + more

🍍 Market flavor today

The Consumer Confidence Index – measuring how average Americans feel about the economy – dropped 7.9 points in April, to 86.

That’s the lowest it’s been since May 2020- aka the early days of COVID-19, when everyone was baking banana bread… and… playing Animal Crossing (? Honestly, I don’t remember what we did back then, that era feels like a fever dream now).

And that’s not all – the labor market’s showing more signs of slowing down. According to the latest JOLTS report, job openings dropped in March, hiring and quitting didn’t change much, and layoffs dropped a little.

TL;DR:

Now, if you’re like, “uhh… I’m a crypto bro, literally why should I care 😐“, here’s the tea:

It’s not just about these numbers – it’s about how the Fed reacts.

If the Fed looks at this data and decides to intervene – by lowering interest rates or making the money printer go brr – crypto’s likely gonna benefit.

Case in point: in Spring-Summer 2020, we saw consumer confidence crash and job openings drop → Bitcoin tanked below $5K → the Fed cut rates and pumped more money into the system → BTC soared past $20K by the end of the year.

BUT – if the Fed sees this weak data and still decides to keep things tight, it could mean short-term pain for crypto and other risky assets.

Cuz, y’know, fewer jobs + nervous consumers = people less likely to be bold with their investments.

So… now what?

We’re waiting on more macro data this week to figure out what the Fed might do next.

Coming up: Q1 GDP numbers and the March PCE inflation report. We’ll break it all down for you on Friday (because unfortunately, we won’t pull up to your inbox tomorrow… soz 😢).

🥝 Memecoin harvest

These coins broke every rule in the book – and wrote a new one in Comic Sans.

Data as of 05:00 AM EST.

Check out these memecoins and plenty more here.

The Bank of Italy dropped some of their thoughts on crypto, and let’s just say… they’re not feeling great.

Their main worry is that crypto’s no longer off in its own corner: banks and companies are getting involved, crypto ETFs are launching, etc etc etc. So if the crypto market crashes, it wouldn’t just affect degens – it could impact the “real” economy too.

They see dollar-pegged stablecoins as a big part of that risk. If one becomes too important – like, a core part of the financial system – and then fails, it could lead to people selling off US government bonds, which might cause problems in global markets.

And they’re also uneasy about euro-backed stablecoins issued by US companies starting to creep into European payment systems. They think that threatens the European Central Bank’s grip on the euro – a direct challenge to Europe’s monetary sovereignty.

Some big concerns on the table. Now, let’s decode that.

This whole thing isn’t just about “protecting investors” or “financial stability.”

Let’s be real: central banks like the Bank of Italy exist to control the money supply, keep inflation in check, and manage the TradFi system. So when they call crypto a threat, what they often mean is:

“Crypto makes it harder for us to do our job – and challenges the monopoly we have over money.”

Now, sure, if crypto becomes tightly integrated with banks and corporations, and something breaks – like a major stablecoin depegs or an ETF collapses – there could be real consequences for people who aren’t even in crypto.

At the same time, Bitcoin and other decentralized assets were literally built to remove the need for central banks. Of course they’re gonna be uncomfortable watching more people buy BTC, use stablecoins, or tap into DeFi protocols that run 24/7 with no central control.

So yes, the Bank of Italy’s warning is technically valid – but also self-serving. Kinda like if CD retailers would say that music streaming would destroy the music industry.

At the end of the day:

And both are probably right – for different reasons.

Who wins in the end? Well, Eric Trump said that TradFi is slow, broken, and outdated, and that if banks don’t keep up with blockchain tech, they’re gonna be extinct in 10 years.

But time will tell, I guess.

🍋 News drops

🦘 Australia’s financial crime agency told inactive crypto exchanges to either get back to business or cancel their registration. An official registration makes these dead exchanges look legit – scammers can use that for money laundering and scams.

😬 The US DOJ wants ex-Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky to get 20 years in prison. We’ll see if the judge agrees on May 8.

👛 We’ve got another win on the “Trump crypto product” bingo card – now his media company plans to launch a crypto token.

📬 Crypto scammers are going old school – like, physical mail old school. Ledger users have been getting fake letters pretending to be from Ledger and trying to trick them into giving up their recovery phrases.

🦉 Duolingo’s about to be an AI-first company. The goal isn’t to fire people, tho’ – it’s to offload the repetitive tasks so they can focus on creative work and bigger challenges.

🎉 Changelly is throwing a 10-year anniversary party with a $100K+ prize pool! Open the Changelly app, sign up or log in, get a free spin (plus another if you make a transaction), and see what you won.*

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🍌 Juicy memes